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Marth Herenyonnen
Marth Herenyonnen (born Damakos Thrai Herenyonnen) was a Teifling born in the city of Soddah in Grey Wall .After the city's destruction he moved to Ashkelon where he became a prominent religious leader. He was known for his exploits during the Black Wars, his formation and leadership of the Cult of the Lady and for his charismatic and powerful personality. Early Life Damakos was born of mixed parentage, his mother was an elven shopkeeper while his father was a teifling sailor. He was cared for by both parents before his father's disappearance and presumed death when Damakos was 6. Four years later his mother died in a freak accident that left him in the care of his aunt. Deeply unhappy with her, he soon ran away and became one of the many homeless in the city. He had always known how to get people to like him and he quickly endeared himself to the local criminal population, doing minor thieving jobs to get by. It was here that his lifetime obsession with gambling began, as well as the seeds for his future religious and criminal empire, in particular his friendships with Meric the Tall, Diesa Bearsbane and Percaya Huseg, who would all prove to be invaluable allies in the years to come The Lady Damakos was 15 when the city of Sodah fell and like all the other inhabitants he was forced to seek a new home. He left with a small party to the city of Ashkelon where they hoped to find sanctuary. Throughout their journey they were repeatedly attacked by goblin raiding parties that infested that area in the days before they were pushed back to the mountains. It was on this journey that he came across an old, abandoned temple in a forest. The only member of his party brave or foolish enough to enter the clearly cursed place, Damakos explored the temple in the hopes of finding weapons or supplies. What he found instead was an old nameless goddess, who granted him great power in exchange for his servitude in reforming her religion. He retuned to his party with the magic coin she had given him and demonstrated his newly-gained powers. His companions were amazed many of them would form the backbone of his new church, including the half-elf Percaya Huseg, who would become his most trusted lieutenant. After a few more days march they finally reached Ashkelon, where Damakos wasted no time in establishing his new religion. That was a time of great religious upheaval in the area so noone even noticed a new church built by an outsider. Changing his name to Marth he founded the Church of the Lady and began to preach in the streets. He soon attracted many followers, some of them rich and powerful citizens who were drawn in by his persuasive rhetoric. He also used his connections in the former Soddah-underworld to set up a criminal ring that in a few years controlled all organised crime in the city. He was soon the most powerful man in the city, much to the dismay of the elected officials who decided to do something about him. The Black Wars The ruling elite of Ashkelon arranged for Marth's death. However the assassins botched the job and Marth was able to fight them off. After a strange series of events he found himself on a pirate ship bound for the dragonborn lands. The captain agreed to grant him safe passage (which was rare for pirates in those days) and dropped him off in the Dragonborn port town of Khitaiváros. He arrived in the early days of the Black wars, when news of Thulsa's exploits were beginning to spread. He hoped to join with Thulsa and convert him, thus converting all those he conquered. However, he was captured by some of Thulsa's enemies, the Khitai tribe, but was able to convert them to the Lady and even agreed to fight with them. In these wars he honed his skills, and the Khtai tribe became one of the few true challenges to Thulsa's dominance. However, they were finally defeated at The Battle of Blue Hill, the penultimate battle of the war, Marth was forced to make the long trek through the Flatlands back to Ashkelon. When he arrived he found that in his absence the Church had been banished from the city by the mayor and fallen into disarray. He had been presumed dead and infighting had taken over his lieutenants. After arranging for the assassination of the mayor he went about re-consolidating the Church and journeyed to their new headquarters in Ruin. Reformation After arriving in Ruin he found that of his eight primary lieutenants, six had split the church into three separate sections (Percaya had patiently awaited Marth's return, staying out of the petty politics while Guumbar Frent had died in a drunken argument over the rules to Gin Rummy). To say the least Marth was displeased by the situation, but after he visited them his lieutenants were quick to hand power back to him. He consolidated the structure of the church, but allowed the divisions to continue, without the constant bickering, as they made the church easier to manage. A new council was created consisting of the six public cardinals of the Church with Marth as supreme leader, though he delegated the day to day running of the church to Percaya, who along with the cardinals were known as the Seven Lords of the Lady. Marth concerned himself mostly with spreading the church (and his own personal fame) throughout the continent, in particular the northern territories.